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Friday, March 4, 2011

Guttenberg gives up his seat as a deputy, and the immunity conferred

Former German Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who resigned after being involved in a plagiarism scandal last Wednesday, has also resigned as a Member of the Bundestag. The resignation, confirmed by the Lower House of German Parliament, former Minister leaves no immunity. Hours before the news was confirmed, the Attorney General's Hof announced the opening of a formal investigation against Guttenberg by accusations of plagiarism.

Meanwhile, this morning the new ministers of defense and interior Germans took office. Guttenberg as successor was appointed until now Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, which in turn will be replaced by Hans-Peter Friedrich. The two new ministers received their certificates today from President Christian Wulff at the Bellevue Castle in Berlin and were sworn in separate ceremonies.

Both assume at a sensitive time: the Democrat De Maizière, 57 years ahead to continue with the further reform of recent decades in the Army and prepare for the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan. Friedrich, 53 years now parliamentary leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Bavarian sister Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Chancellor Angela Merkel, opens in Interior a day after a shooting that killed two soldiers Americans at the airport in Frankfurt and could have an Islamist background, according to research.